Adele

Adele and The Weeknd had the biggest global hits of 2021

Adele's highly-anticipated fourth album sold more than five million copies in just two months, said the IFPI.

It was the biggest-selling record on vinyl and CD, the industry body added.

Meanwhile, The Weeknd's moody retro-pop ballad topped the charts in 18 countries, and was streamed 2.15 billion times.

It was the second year running that the Canadian star delivered the world's most popular song.

Last year's chart-topper, Blinding Lights, made the top 10 for a second time in 2021, at number seven.

Adele promises Las Vegas shows will 'absolutely 100%' happen this year

Last month, the singer posted a tearful video the day before her first show, saying it wasn't ready.

She has now told TV host Graham Norton she and her team are working extremely hard to prepare and confirm new dates.

"It has to happen this year because I've got plans for next year," she told him. "Imagine if I have to cancel because I am having a baby!"

Adele, who has a nine-year-old son Angelo with ex-husband Simon Konecki, told Norton's BBC One chat show she would like to have more children.

Ballads over bangers as Adele wins big

The singer won best artist, album and song of the year for Easy on Me.

Ed Sheeran was crowned songwriter of the year too at London's O2 Arena, and he performed his hit Bad Habits alongside rockers Bring Me the Horizon.

Dua Lipa won the night's other big prize, as TikTok users voted for her and not Adele as the best pop/R&B act.

It means that for now at least, Robbie Williams is still one gong ahead of Adele as the most-awarded artist in Brits history with 13.

Adele announces she will perform at the Brit Awards

"I'm really happy to say that I am performing at the Brits next week!!" the star wrote on Instagram.

Tuesday's ceremony will mark the singer's return to the stage where, in 2011, she gave a career-changing performance of Someone Like You.

While in the UK, Adele will also give Graham Norton her first interview since postponing her 12-week Las Vegas run.

"I'm looking forward to it," she said of her chat show appearance, adding: "Oh, and Rich sends his love."

     

30 becomes 2021's fastest-selling album despite sales drop

Its 261,000 first-week chart sales mean it sped past the Swedish pop group's comeback album Voyage, which opened with 204,000 sales.

However, Adele's sales figures are significantly lower than those of her previous album 25, released in 2015.

That album, her third, opened with 800,000 first-week sales, which means 30 has sold 32% of its predecessor.

Adele gets Spotify to take shuffle button off all album pages

The singer tweeted: "We don't create albums with so much care and thought into our track listing for no reason.

"Our art tells a story and our stories should be listened to as we intended. Thank you Spotify for listening."

The streaming service replied "anything for you". A statement later hailed their "new premium feature... to make play the default button on all albums".

A Spotify spokesperson said they were "excited" to be rolling out the feature which was "long requested by both users and artists".

Adele says new album will explain her divorce to her young son

"I wanted to explain to him through this record, when he's in his twenties or thirties, who I am and why I voluntarily chose to dismantle his entire life in the pursuit of my own happiness," the star told Vogue.

"It made him really unhappy sometimes. And that's a real wound for me that I don't know if I'll ever be able to heal," she added.

The 33-year-old pop superstar has given separate interviews to Vogue's British and American editions - her first for five years - as she prepares to release her highly anticipated fourth album.

Adele takes Grenfell families on a trip to the flicks

Same as the rest of us - go an watch Despicable Me 3 of course.

Turns out that's what Adele did last week and she treated some of the families who live near Grenfell Tower in the process. Only difference was it was a private screening...but then we'd all do that too if we could.

The singer, who recently cancelled two big dates at Wembley Stadium at the end of her world tour due to vocal issues, was seen down on the ground in North Kensington in June helping with the relief effort in the wake of the fire which killed scores of people.

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Adele fans #SingForAdele

The #SingForAdele campaign began after the singer broke the news she would be unable to perform the final two concerts of her world tour.

"On medical advice, I simply am unable to perform over the weekend," the singer posted on social media Friday. "To say I'm heartbroken would be a complete understatement."

But while damaged vocal cords kept the Grammy winner from "Rolling in the Deep" at her scheduled Wembley Stadium gigs in the U.K., fans gathered there anyway as part of the #SingForAdele campaign, which went viral.

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Adele "Heartbroken" after damaging vocal cords

Just days before the "Hello" singer was scheduled to perform at Wembley Stadium in the U.K., the Grammy winner shared some upsetting news about her health.

As it turns out, Adele has temporarily damaged her vocal cords forcing her to cancel the last two nights of her tour.